


ask me what i did with my life (i spent it with you)

by occasionallywritesthings



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Social Media, YouTube
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-06 16:22:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14060790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/occasionallywritesthings/pseuds/occasionallywritesthings
Summary: Beca has always known that she'd get her eventual claim to fame and recognition through YouTube. She just didn't think it would be because people thought she was dating her friend, Chloe. Follows the lives of the Pitch Perfect characters as YouTubers.





	1. how it began

She and Jesse have come a long way from being awkward teenagers who leave the last piece of food for the other in their L.A. apartment. Now, they actively try to eat the last piece, and at times, even leave Post-It’s at the bottom of the box or bag that read ‘ **SIKE** ’. (They’re adults. They promise.)

Now, they’re 3 years older, 3 years closer, and 3 years strong of not having murdered each other or killed each other with their horrible eating habits. Beca has a feeling it has something to do with Luke – Jesse’s boyfriend – having moved in with them about 8 months into their first year. Back then, he wasn’t Jesse’s boyfriend yet but rather someone Jesse met during the filming of one of his student projects.

(“He’s really cool. He played the guy part in the music video I had to film for class.”

“What’s his name?”

“Luke. He’s like a total gym nut but also has _really_ good taste in music, so you’ll definitely get along with him.)

Luke got along with _someone_ all right.

The second year of Jesse and Beca living together came with a lot of developments that neither of them could have ever predicted. Jesse came out as bisexual. So did Beca. (“Oh… well, I guess I should tell you something about myself.” “What?” “Well, not to steal your _fire_ but…”)

It goes without saying that they found out Luke was not in fact straight, but very very gay (particular for Jesse). Luke eventually moved out of the room he had in the apartment and into Jesse’s. They use his former room as a recording studio now since Luke and Beca are very into creating and producing music. 

A lot of the décor in the ‘music room’ of their home are actually Luke’s. In fact, with the exception of moving his bookshelves and dresser out, the room looks mostly the same way it did when Luke resided in there. His pull-out sofa acts their musicians’ couch. The corner of the wall that was occupied with Luke’s dresser is now set-up with an L-shaped desk from IKEA that holds Luke’s music gear (Beca refuses to share hers and Luke seems to get it). Besides, Luke’s are arguably more expensive and of higher quality but that’s because he’s loaded even if he dresses like he only owns 2 shirts. Beca swears she’s only ever seen him in a band tee or a Henley.

“Hey, Becs?” Jesse calls out, returning from his classes for the day.

Beca is in the living room with her legs pulled up onto the couch, working on something on her laptop. “Living room,” she replies in a raised voice.

“Hey,” he greets, leaning against the door frame. The TV is on, some animal documentary from National Geographic is playing, but Beca is more interested in what she’s doing on her laptop.

“Sup.” She double clicks on her touchpad, moving a track from one place to another. She only looks up when it’s done. “Anything good?” She asks, referring to the mail Jesse is holding.

“Yeah, you got something from your dad, care package from your mom, aaand, oh this is a health and fitness magazine. This is Luke’s.”

They both roll their eyes before Jesse hands over her share of the mail. It was her birthday last week, so she’ll bet this is money from her dad, and some weird shit from Portland her mom thinks she misses.

Jesse crosses the hall and walks into the kitchen. “I’m gonna start dinner, what do you want tonight?” He asks loudly so his voice reaches her.

Beca places her laptop on the coffee table before going into the kitchen with her care package. “Eh, nothing if you’re cooking. When’s Luke getting home?”

Jesse rolls his eyes. “Luke will be home at like 8. He’s got a training session with one of the cheerleaders from campus.”

(Did she mention that in addition to Luke being the richest between all three of them, he also has the most practical job that brings in the most money?)

“Oh, Cindy?”

“No. _Candy_ ,” Jesse says with an annoyed roll of his eyes.

“Man, when is she gonna realize he’s gay,” Beca voices, taking a knife from the knife rack to open her care package.

Luke isn’t very… obviously gay? Like, not that gay people have to present themselves a certain way, but Luke doesn’t walk around with the rainbow flag painted on his ass either. Jesse goes on about how she _knows_ Luke is gay but is probably try to ‘turn’ him or something. (“Well, sucks for _her_ because he’s had a loving _boyfriend_ from almost _two years_.”)

Beca stabs the knife into her package.

“Beca!”

“What?” She defends herself.

“You could’ve damaged something inside.”

“Oh my god, calm down,” Beca advises before slicing through the tape and putting the knife aside.

She pulls open the box. It’s a teddy bear, some chocolates from the local chocolaterie that she likes from her hometown, a card, a few envelopes, and a couple of homemade bracelets that are no doubt from her twin little step-sisters.

Their front door opens again. Jesse and Beca both look to it, but not before Beca glares at Jesse momentarily for forgetting to lock the door _again_.

It’s Stacie, hair thrown up in a bun, wearing a hoodie and some running shorts. Though, Beca doubts she went running at all today.

“Hey, nerds,” she greets, taking an Oreo from the pack Jesse had opened while he was moving about in the kitchen.

“Hey, Stace,” Beca greets. She’s soon met with a press of Stacie’s lips.

So, she should probably explain: She’s single. She is. Contrary to that little interaction.

She and Stacie met through Luke. Stacie lives in their building, a floor below them, and she does yoga with Luke every morning on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. They also box together every afternoon on the weekend (if neither of them are hungover) because they’re _those people_ – healthy L.A. people.

Stacie has a proclivity for casual sex and one-night stands, and Beca… well, Beca gave into how hot Stacie was after two weeks of them sitting on the living room couch drinking wine and hate-watching terrible TV shows.

They’re by no means ‘official’ even though Stacie sleeps over sometimes (most of the time) and spends pretty much more of her evenings at Beca and Jesse’s (and Luke’s but whatever – technicality). They just fuck on the regular and hang out a lot because they actually get along and Beca can’t be bothered trying to commit to anyone because she’s trying to make a career and also she doesn’t care for relationships.

Stacie doesn’t mind this one bit. In fact, after about 4 months of on-and-off ‘sleepovers’, Stacie told her that she’s basically only sleeping with Beca at this point because everyone in LA is ‘so disappointing’. It made Beca blink more times than necessary, but Stacie rolled her eyes and told her not to freak out because ‘nothing’s changed, but I’m mostly just fucking you now’. She even added “I’ll still fuck other people if it makes you feel better though” to make the obvious tension Beca held in her body leave.

So yeah, they’re friends… who sleep with each other about 4 to 5 times a week. It’s totally normal. It works for them, so they don’t really give a fuck what anyone else has to say. Jesse and Luke are used to it. In fact, it’s become kind of a comforting aspect of all of their lives together. Stacie and Beca get to poke fun at Jesse and Luke when they retreat into their room for the night, and when Stacie pulls Beca away from her laptop and into her bedroom, the boys tell them to “keep it a reasonable volume tonight”. It’s stupid. But it’s them.

“Hey Stace, you feel like cooking tonight? Beca won’t touch dinner if I cook.”

“Because when you cook, things _die_. Like people.”

“And _animals_. Where do you think _steaks_ come from?”

“See, this is why I’m Vegan,” Stacie says with a shrug.

Yes, Stacie is the kind of person who works out almost every day and is Vegan. Beca tries to ignore that about her because she doesn’t want anyone knowing she fucks a _Vegan_ in _L.A_.

“You’re eating Oreos,” Jesse points out.

“Oreos are Vegan!” Stacie defends herself.

They roll their eyes.

“Anyway, yeah, I’ll cook. Beca looks like she hasn’t touched anything since yesterday.”

Beca shrugs. Well, it’s not untrue. She has no classes today so she’s mostly been mixing with the exception of editing the latest video that she plans to upload in two days. Food wasn’t a priority when coffee and sheer force of will existed.

“Nice. I’m gonna take a shower then.”

“What? Bitch no, you’ll help.” Stacie grabs Jesse’s shoulder before he can leave.

Beca snickers at the interaction before closing up her care package.

Stacie finishes eating her Oreo before clapping her hands free of the cookie dust. “I’m gonna make something with vegetables so you better prepare for that, B.”

Beca makes a face before leaving the kitchen to keep the package in her room.

* * *

They eat Stacie’s dinner, sat at the table that accommodates four in their kitchen. It’s some obviously vegetarian thing. Bell peppers, fake mushroom meat, and broccoli. Beca would normally not even sit down if she saw that at the table, but Stacie seasons shit to perfection, and it makes all of her Vegan bullshit tolerable. She even makes this sauce to accompany it that tastes like healthy sour scream. (“It’s made with Greek yoghurt so it’s actually even healthier.) Stacie doesn’t touch it because _Vegan_ but Jesse and Beca dip almost all of their vegetables in it to make the fact that they’re eating vegetables tolerable.

“Oh, by the way, you guys know how my mom like, loves to mentor kids who sing and shit and like science, right?” Stacie begins to ask them.

Stacie’s mom is sort of a topic of interest for all of them. She loves science and has apparently made great contributions in her field, but at the same time she also loves musical theater and believes in the healing power of crystals.

Jesse and Beca nod. 

“Well, her latest protégé or whatever named Emily is moving here from Pittsburgh tomorrow. For college and stuff. So yeah, I was thinking we can help her move in or something—“

“Oh hell no—“

“What? Guys, she’s like a fetus. My mom says she’s a pure spirit, c’mon.”

“If she can get into college, she can move her own things,” Beca points out, taking a sip of her water.

“She doesn’t even know I’m asking you guys for her. We’ve just been texting a bit back and forth, and she seems really sweet. A real go-getter, you guys.”

Beca groans. Jesse has already bought this.

“Well, it can’t _hurt_ ,” Jesse starts.

“You know what can?” She punches Jesse in the arm.

“Ow!” Jesse touches his arm. Beca smiles.

“Fine, we’ll do it,” she says, satisfied when she twists around.

“Nice. I’ll tell her.” Stacie is taking her phone out and gets to typing casually.

* * *

Emily is nice. She’s a good kid, too. And she’s tall. All lanky and clumsy. It’s endearing, Beca thinks, as Emily trips on herself for what might be the third time that afternoon. She’s gotten this apartment that’s not all that far from Beca and Jesse’s (and Stacie’s), which makes sense since they don’t live too far off from campus. Beca normally hates teenagers, but she doesn’t hate Emily. In fact, she thinks she likes Emily, especially when the first thing she sets up in her room is her speakers (they’re Marshall – great brand) and her song choice for ‘first song played in my first apartment ever’ is Close Enough by R.LUM.R.

Great fucking taste, kid.

They’re sitting on Emily’s living room floor after having finally moved in all over her stuff. Jesse has returned from the close-by Trader Joe’s with some drinks and food, which Emily thanks him profusely for and it has Jesse blushing.

“It’s seriously no problem, Emily. It’s your first day here. Consider this your really low-key welcome party.”

Though Jesse being Jesse, he buys fucking Capri-Suns. They all cheers with it though despite the risk of squeezing juice out of the pouch. They sit on the floor and talk for a bit, enjoying how cool the air is coming from Emily’s air-conditioner. It’s a relatively new building, so most of the stuff in all of the units are first-hand… unlike Jesse and Beca’s where they had to call in the landlord every two weeks when they first moved in because the AC kept going out. It was eventually replaced, but it still happened.

They hear a knock on the door. From where they’re sitting, they can see the door push open from its partially open position. Fucking Jesse and always forgetting to lock and close doors.

“Hello?”

“Oh, um, hey!” Emily is standing up, looking completely uncertain as she takes authority over her new home for the first time.

“Hey,” the stranger greets.

It’s some redhead.

“I think this was wrongly brought up to my room? I think they mixed it up since we’re both moving in today. Is this yours?”

“Oh yeah, that’s mine—wait, oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my GOD.”

The ginger’s eyes widen. So do Beca, Jesse, and Stacie’s because what the fuck.

“You’re—” Emily catches herself, closed fist coming up to her lips to contain herself before she continues. “You’re _Chloe Beale_ ,” she loud whispers.

_In her own home._

This kid was a fucking _dork_. __

“Oh my god, you know who I am?” Her eyes widen like she can’t believe Emily’s actually heard of her.

“Yes, I mean, _of course_ I do. My mom was a Bella. 1987 Bellas,” she’s quick to clarify before continuing on. “You guys were _so_ incredible at the ICCAs last year.”

Beca looks at Stacie like ‘what the fuck is an ICCA?’. Stacie shrugs.

Chloe looks surprised before she’s nodding. “Well, _thank you_. That’s seriously the best thing I’ve heard today and I was given a free coffee earlier by some barista who told me the sky had nothing on my eyes.” 

Beca scrunches her face. This barista? No game.

Emily tries to shake Chloe’s hand but the redhead’s pretty preoccupied with trying to keep the box of stuff hoisted up, so they all make a move to try and help her before Chloe puts it down herself and takes Emily’s hand to shake.

“It’s nice to meet you…?”

“Emily! I’m Emily. That’s me. I’m that girl.” Emily points to herself then, looking confused. “ _This_ girl. This one. Anyway, yeah, I’m Emily. Emily Junk. Hi.”

Chloe doesn’t at all seem fazed by that and shakes Emily’s hand.

Wait, Emily’s last name is _Junk_? Beca looks at Stacie. Stacie proceeds to tell her that Emily’s dad’s last name is ‘Hardon’ so you decide which was the lesser of two evils.

Chloe takes notice of the rest of them sitting on the floor then and offers a small wave. They all sort of wave back even if this was kind of awkward.

“So you just moved in?” Emily asks all too excitedly.

Someone needs to tell Emily to calm down because she may just be at risk of turning into an LA creep and it’s only her first day here.

“Yup!” Chloe answers, seemingly unbothered by Emily’s excitement. “I just finished at BU—” She looks to whole room then. “—Barden University,” she informs, before facing Emily again. “And I’ve got a job here with one of my uncles at his interior design company. I mean, it’s not at _all_ what I was majoring in, but it’ll be something to do until I can eventually figure out… what it is I want… to do,” she finishes, seemingly confused by all of the ‘to do’s in her sentence.

“I love interior design!” Emily is saying all too passionately.

Emily is way too excited for her own good.

“Yeah?” Chloe beams back though. “I mean, you have a great blank canvas to work with,” she tells Emily, gesturing to the blank walls of the apartment. Her eyes meet Beca’s and she gives Beca this sort of polite smile-nod which Beca returns.

Emily seems to notice this now and remembers the three people who helped move a bajillion boxes and a giant framed photo of a map of Pittsburgh into her new place. 

“Oh! This is Stacie, Jesse, and Beca, by the way. They’re my friends.”

Okay, little early for ‘friends’ but she guesses that’s the best way to describe people you’ve only known for about 4 hours when you are as keen a person as Emily. They all wave to Chloe again, muttering some half-hearted hi’s. Chloe grins at them before waving with a little more energy than all of them combined.

“Hi,” Chloe says. She’s turning to face Emily again. “Well, it’s super nice to meet you guys but I should probably get back to my place because I left 4 guys waiting in there.”

Beca’s eyes widen.

“Not sexually. Like the movers, my uncles—” Chloe is quickly correcting with a frown before waving her hand. “Anyway, I should go. But I’ll catch you later, Em?”

Beca thinks she sees Emily’s face literally light up at the fact that she and this Chloe person were on nickname-basis now.

“Totally! Totally, totally.”

“Awes. Okay, see ya!” Chloe makes her exit then with a final wave. Unlike Jesse, she actually _closes_ the door behind her.

Beca wants to make a comment asking Emily if she’s like to put tape around where Chloe walked so that no one dare soil it, but Emily looks so happy when she turns back around and returns to her seat that Beca can’t.

Like if this obsession was solely on how hot Chloe was – she’d totally get it. But it was about… well, Beca’s still not sure how Emily knows Chloe. She assumes she saw her somewhere?

“Hey Emily, so what’s the ICCA thing you were talking about?” She asks.

“Oh! The International Championship of Collegiate A Capella,” Emily tells her.

Wow. Really? _A Capella?_

Emily proceeds to tell them all about the Bellas and Barden University, and how while she totally wanted to go there, the program here is much better for what she wants to do with her life. Plus, it’ll really kick off her singing career being in a city like L.A.

“Singing?”

“Oh, I write music,” Emily tells them.

Beca is intrigued. Emily brings out her laptop then and pulls up YouTube. This has Jesse alert because she doesn’t know if she’s mentioned it before: Jesse is a YouTuber. Kind of a decent one at that. He has like three-hundred-thousand subscribers, Beca thinks. She has a pretty decent following as well, but she’s not super invested like Jesse is. (Okay, they’re both really into it but Beca creates content for different reasons. Jesse loves all of the YouTuber shit whereas Beca really just likes to make music and do interesting covers of songs.)

Emily shows them her YouTube channel. It’s not as decked out as Jesse’s is because she’s clearly only using this to upload recordings and not actively create a following, but she has about 5 videos up of her doing song covers. She shows them a video of her singing ‘Stitches’ by Shawn Mendes, and it’s really nice. Emily can sing.

“Good shit, Em,” Stacie says.

“Yeah, really nice,” Jesse agrees. Then he starts asking Emily what camera she uses (because it’s way too nice to be just from her phone) but then Emily tells him that she just actually uses her phone and props it up on a lot of books and a can of Coke. She mentions she does have a Nikon somewhere here though.

Jesse is floored, then he goes into telling Emily he can help her set up her channel properly, with social media links, a banner, and intro and outro edit - the works. Emily looks intimidated for a moment but mostly interested so she and Jesse get to talking. Then he mentions, as an example, what he did for Beca. This has Beca rolling her eyes before she’s typing ‘beca mitchell’ into the search bar and her channel comes up. She double-clicks on the first video that’s suggested, which is her latest one. It’s a cover ‘Stay’ by Zedd and Alessia Cara that she does with Jesse and Luke with the use of water bottles and a guitar. It’s stupid, but also amassed a ridiculous amount of views and likes.

“Oh my stars, that’s INCREDIBLE. Beca, did you arrange that?”

“Yeah, she arranged the whole thing,” Jesse talks Beca up. “She’s kind of a genius—”

She smacks him on the shoulder playfully. “Yeah, I did,” she answers for herself, though not with the tone of pride Jesse had. “It took like 6 very unnecessary hours, but it finally got Luke and Jesse to stop doing the water bottle thing, so I’m pretty happy with it.”

(Jesse landed the water bottle once after flipping it, and it started this whole phenomenon in their house that had Beca afraid of ever leaving a bottle a quarter full.)

“Jesse helped choreograph the whole thing though. He’s good at the video things.”

Jesse grins then. Beca rolls her eyes. “You should really let him help you out. He’s like, good or whatever if you really want to get yourself out here on this thing,” Beca admits despite how much it kills her to fluff Jesse’s ego. 

The rest of their stay at Emily’s is Jesse helping pizzazz Emily’s channel. Thankfully, Emily has Photoshop on her Macbook, so Jesse is able to whip up all sorts of starter things for her like a base for a banner, an avatar, an outro photo, and some other things while he walks her through the purpose of each thing and some ‘Tuber tips. Before they leave, he tells her he’ll try coming up with something for her intro when he gets home and they she should totally come over tomorrow if she has the time so she can see what Jesse does for his channel (he’s filming a video tomorrow). Emily nods eagerly. They exchange contacts, wish Emily luck unpacking the rest of her stuff, and Beca briefly wonders what floor that Chloe person lives on when they’re on the way down in the elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the reason hs au hasn't been updated is bc i keep thinking about this au asjdhsk. [click here](http://bsnows.tumblr.com/post/172150228966/bechloe-youtuber-aumore-chloe-retweets-a) to see beca's and (what will be) chloe's youtube channel. also there's a bechloe interaction that's gonna happen in the future on there if you want a snippet of what it will be like with them.
> 
> edit: if anyone wants to watch the video beca's video was based off of, [click here! ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrdFRdPM7-M)i'm probably gonna start linking videos either at the beginning or end so you guys can get a gist of the vibe i'm going for when the characters come out with videos


	2. can't be both

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beca doesn't like Chloe.

Helping Emily move in was a decision that starts a chain reaction. 

They go from helping her move in to redoing all of her social media to follow a specific theme to filming her for an intro on Venice Beach. Emily Junk is now ‘ThatGirlEmily’ thanks to Jesse, who somehow couldn’t find a creative enough persona for himself when he was creating his brand all that time ago. 

(“What’s wrong with Jesse Swanson? That’s my name.” 

“It’s not memorable.”

“Sure, ‘ _Beca Mitchell Official_ ’.”

“Beca Mitchell is a cool name,” Emily reasons.

“Emily, who’s side are you _on_?”)

* * *

They all high five when Jesse finishes the final cut of Emily’s intro, set to the tune of some copyright free music till Emily finishes a proper recording of this song she’s writing – and this is the part Beca helps her with. Like she said, chain reaction: one thing leads to another. She doesn’t even know why she decides to do it, but when Jesse talks to Emily about considering using one of her own songs for the intro for a more powerful impact and Emily is talking about how she has one she’s currently writing but is nowhere near done with, the next thing Beca knows is that she’s offering to help her finish and produce it. Emily, of course, jumps for joy – she thinks what Beca does is _amazing_ , and Beca doesn’t hate spending time with Emily, so it all works out.

* * *

“ _I got all I need when I got you_ _uuu and I… ‘cause I look around me and see a sweet life! I’m stuck in the dark but you’re my flashlight, you’re getting me, getting me through the night—_ ”

Snap.

Cymbal noise.

Electric guitar sound effect.

Some beatbox attempt.

“ _You are my flaaaaashliiiiiiiight!_ ”

“Wow…” Beca starts.

Jesse is holding his breath. He turns his head to look at Beca.

She looks at him. “Ummm…”

They stare at each other for a beat before turning to Emily at the same time and saying, “Great!”

“Good stuff, honestly,” Jesse begins.

“Yeah, I—I appreciated the vibrato—” Beca notes.

“Oh, _such_ good vibrato.”

“So good, dude.”

“Oh my god, you guys hated it.” Emily lets her hands fall to her sides.

“What?!” Jesse shakes his head wildly. “No, no, we _loved_ it—”

“Noooo.” Beca scoffs. “Psh, we didn’t hate it. It was… it was good! I’m just really confused about… like, where’s the… rest of the song? Like, the _start_ of it for one..?”

Emily is quiet. “Well…”

“There’s no start?” 

Beca is so happy Jesse decides to speak because she already feels like a dick.

“Well,” Emily begins. “I was kind of tinkering around with something, but then I hated it, then it reminded of my ex-crush and I definitely hated that so—”

Beca blows out a long breath.

“Oh god, I have no song!” Emily throws herself on the couch and hugs a throw pillow to her chest.

“What? No, c’mon.” Jesse is quick to comfort Emily, hopping onto the couch beside her. “You have a song—chorus— _song_ ,” he finally settles. “A _great_ one. You just need to dig into your little heart and find the rest of it.”

Beca rolls her eyes at Jesse’s advice but he does have a point.

“We have time to figure out the rest of your song, Emily,” Beca then decides to say. “It’s not a big deal.”

* * *

She ends up seeing Emily almost every day when she’s not in classes or recording her own videos. They end up getting really close, which is a first for Beca because she’s not really the type of girl who has a lot of _girl_ friends. Her roommates are both dudes for crying out loud, and while Stacie is the closest thing she has to a girl _friend_ (with a space between those two words), she could hardly call the nature of their relationship ‘platonic’. 

To Beca, Emily is cool. She’s a good kid, a nice person, and a fucking talented human at that. Beca thinks her voice is unique and that she’s really earnest about creating music. They vibe on the same wavelength – when it comes to music _and_ junk food – so that’s really nice. Though, Emily thinks Beca’s addiction to coffee is a little worrying and prefers tea to coffee at that, so that’s the one thing they disagree on so far. She’s more on Chloe’s side when it comes to hot beverages.

And yeah, speaking of Chloe…

They see a lot of her too.

* * *

Chloe has become sort of a staple in Emily’s life. Beca and Jesse quickly come to learn that Chloe is like, Emily’s given big sister figure in L.A. (which only offends Beca a little bit – then again, she’s more suited to be someone’s distant uncle figure so she’s fine with it overall). Emily ran into Chloe again the very next day after they helped Emily moved in. Chloe helped Emily unpack whatever she didn’t manage to and apparently they got to talking, and in Emily’s words: “By the end of it, we were like, like _soul sisters_ you guys. Chloe is the _best_.”

 _Chloe_ meets them for lunch when they finish filming Emily’s intro that day on Venice Beach. _Chloe_ picks Emily up from Jesse and Beca’s when Emily is done working out music things with Beca for the day. _Chloe_ is already at Emily’s place helping Emily prep the table when Jesse and Beca come over for a dinner that Emily wants to make for them in thanks of all that they’ve done for her in the short time they’ve known each other. Chloe is everywhere, basically. And it’s not that Beca doesn’t like her. She’s just… like, it’s so weird how everyone likes her and she’s so hot, you know? Like, it’s too good to be true. No one can be both hot _and_ nice. And Chloe is freakishly a lot of both. Like, Luke’s hot, yeah. But he’s also deadpan and quiet and has a weird sense of humor. Stacie’s hot, but like, she’s a _Vegan_. See? Everybody had their flaws. Except Chloe.

(Beca voiced this opinion to Jesse while they were hanging out at home one night and all Jesse had to say was “why do you hate everyone?” So maybe, it’s just her and her judge-y nature. Chloe still has yet to win her over. Not that Beca wants Chloe to win her over at all. But just, you know, for the sake of Emily and all that.)

“Oh, hey, guys!” Chloe greets. “Come on in! Em is just getting changed. She got pasta sauce on her shirt,” Chloe reveals with a chuckle. She finishes setting the plates as Jesse and Beca hang their jackets up on Emily’s coat rack that mostly just houses various bags, purses, and a sequined bomber – it’s too hot in LA for ‘coats’ but it does rain sometimes.

Jesse is quick to converse with Chloe but Beca just… watches. She looks around Emily’s home and takes note of the changes. It’s properly decorated now. It looks like what would come up if you type ‘cutesy hipster minimalist’ on Pinterest. It’s nice, though. It’s Emily. Beca smiles when she sees Emily has hung up her giant typography map of Pittsburgh near on the blank space of wall that leads to her tiny balcony.

“Beca!”

Beca feels Emily on her before she can even properly turn around.

“Hey, dude,” she greets lightly, smiling despite the sudden hug.

“I love your outfit!” Emily comments.

Beca’s wearing these black overalls with a gray tank top underneath, it’s really nothing. “Uh, thanks..? Heard you were wearing pasta sauce on yours.”

Emily grins a little sheepishly. “Yeah, but I’ve changed out of it now.”

Emily currently wears a small red romper. Beca has to give it to her for putting the effort in when she’s in the comfort of her own home. Beca would barely make the effort to put a bra on when she’s within the confines of her apartment.

“Let’s eat!” Emily announces.

Jesse and Chloe cheer from where they were taking a sip from their drinks.

* * *

So, Emily’s pasta is amazing. And according to Emily, it was either this or chicken nuggets, so she’s definitely going to have to step up her cooking game if she’s going to invite people over more often. Chloe says she’ll gladly help Emily out with that. Beca feels like scrunching up her nose at the sound of it but she doesn’t. She does perk up at attention though when Emily suggests a music listening party and some wine.

Music and alcohol? Count her the fuck _in_.

* * *

They listen to Bayonne’s Primitives album and sit on Emily’s living room floor drinking cocktails and cheap wine. (They give up on cocktails some time later because the buzz kicks in enough that no one feels like standing up and wine is so much easier to refill than an intricate cocktail that requires two ingredients, ice, and a shaker.) Also to be clear, they’re not encouraging underage drinking – Emily has at most one glass for every 3 that each of them drink. And she prefers the taste of ice and peach juice to ‘expired grape juice’ after her second glass, so it’s not that big a deal – Emily is responsible and cuts herself off. And it’s mostly Emily parenting _them_ when the giggles start settling in and Jesse has begun sharing _stories_. It also doesn’t help that they’ve transitioned from Bayonne to Glass Animals. ‘Gooey’ has never failed to make Beca feel more dazed than she actually is.

“And like, I – you know – _cleaned_ in there, and yet he’s the one who shat himself.”

The girls all burst out laughing. Beca has heard this story countless of times before but it never fails to make her laugh, especially when she’s already this gone with a bottle and a half of wine in between she, Jesse, and Chloe. (And okay, maybe they’re more than halfway done with this second bottle.)

“So yeah, I’m glad Luke and I found each other, and I never have to whore around again.” Jesse chuckles against his glass before tipping it back, taking a long sip.

“What about you, Chloe? Any embarrassing stories?”

Chloe’s eyes widen behind her glass before she finishes her sip. “Well, where do I _start_?”

And this. This is when Beca learns that Chloe is actually… not all that bad. And she’s funny. Like, actually funny even if it’s in the dorky kind of way. And she’s genuinely cool despite all of the dorkiness, which is a rarity in Beca’s head.

Chloe tells them about all of her bad dates, how when she first moved out here – before she got her apartment and still lived with her uncles – she went on this blind date and the guy she was out with wanted to be referred to as ‘ya boi’ (“Spelled Y-A B-O-I. Yeah. That was a real thing.”) And she talks about how she went out on another date with this DJ guy she was introduced to by a friend and he fell asleep _while_ making out with her… for the _first time_.

“People can do that?! With you?!” Beca voices in disbelief.

Emily topples backwards in laughter. Jesse laughs so carelessly that he spills some wine on his shirt. Chloe is blushing profusely with the most adorable sheepish look on her face but she nods.

“Oh yeah. And there’s more but like, I feel like someone else should go.”

Someone else meaning ‘Beca’. But Beca refuses – she’s drunk enough to outwardly deny things with a lazy wave of her finger – and she insists Chloe continue telling stories of these dumb ass L.A. men she seems to be attracting. There’s a beat of eye contact between the both of them that Beca can’t explain before Chloe is agreeing and continuing on.

They come to learn that Chloe has like… a type. And they all seem to treat her horribly. Or just like, fall asleep on her, or stand her up, or tell her she should really leave now because their _girlfriend_ will be home soon.

“Homewrecker!” Beca jokingly yells.

“I knooow! It was so stupid, gosh!” Chloe slaps her hand to her head.

Emily has already fallen asleep. She lays on the floor, hugging a small pillow to her head. Jesse is close to passed out, rested against a mound of pillows from Emily’s couch.

“He was a li-ah,” Jesse sounds, holding the empty bottle of wine to his chest. Beca thinks he’s drooling.

Chloe excuses herself to go to the bathroom for a smidge. Beca just _barely_ manages to nod in acknowledgement before she just _barely_ manages to stand up and walk to the coffee table where they keep the bucket of ice that’s pretty much 80% cold water at this point. Shame. Beca reaches in and manages to fish out a shard of ice small enough to pop into her mouth, sucking on it and allowing its coolness to sober her up. She plops back down on the floor and lays back, resting against the ottoman Chloe once laid against.

She hears a forced gasp. “Beca Mitchell, that’s my spot.”

“Mine now,” Beca slurs.

Chloe collapses beside her and they’re shoulder to shoulder. They feel the ottoman slide backwards behind them until it skids backwards far enough that Beca and Chloe fall to the floor, laughing.

“Owww.” Chloe giggles.

“Christ—We’re wasted.” Beca chuckles, smiling as she rests her hand over her eyes.

“It’s a good night,” Chloe makes known.

“It is though,” Beca agrees.

She feels completely free at the moment – totally vacant – and she doesn’t hold that sense of judgment she earlier carried about Chloe with her now. It’s gone. Either because she’s learned that Chloe’s actually pretty alright or because of the alcohol. It’s probably a mix of both.

“I don’t hate you,” Beca finds herself slurring.

“You hated me?” Chloe asks, blinking out of her daze.

Beca takes her hand off of her face and turns her head to the side so she’s looking at Chloe. Chloe already has her head turned when Beca looks over, and they lock gazes.

“I don’t know. I guess… wary is the right word.”

“Wary?”

“Dude, you’re so unreal,” Beca points out.

Chloe’s brows furrow and her lips pout in this way that’s… god, it’s too fucking cute.

Beca clarifies, “like, you can’t be that hot _and_ that _good_. That’s just not possible.”

Chloe finds herself laughing then, the crease in her forehead smoothing out as her head is thrown back and small cackles erupt from her throat.

“You’re _freakishly_ nice,” Beca emphasizes, still unable to wrap her head around it.

“So is Jesse!”

“Yeah, but you’re like, pick-up-your-neighbor-you-just-met every day nice. And you fucking come over with Starbucks all the time when you pass by my and Jesse’s.”

“It’s not good to show up empty handed!”

“But you’re just coming to pick Emily up!”

“Also, might I add, Beca, I didn’t _just_ meet Emily. We bonded the very next day after you guys moved her in. We became like family.”

“You can’t become family after one day! I’ve known Jesse three _years_ and I’d still be apprehensive about calling him a ‘brother’ or some shit like that.”

Chloe just scoffs with a smile and shakes her head. “You are just… a grump. You’re a big ol’ grumpy butt. Friendships happen. Sometimes faster than you realize.”

Beca just rolls her eyes. “Not one day fast.”

“Have you never seen _any_ Hollywood movie?”

“I hate movies,” Beca reveals.

Chloe throws her hands up and lets it drop to her sides. “Well, that’s it. That’s why you hate everything. You haven’t let the magic of movies warm your heart.”

“God, you sound just like Jesse.” Beca turns her head away and looks to the ceiling. “Movies aren’t that great,” she points out. “And they’re so predictable.”

“But they also make you _feel_ things,” Chloe says, though not discrediting Beca’s opinions. “They make you experience emotions you won’t normally feel every day.”

“They _manipulate_ you,” Beca counters with a grin, turning to Chloe again.

“Oh gosh, you’re impossible,” Chloe says with a giggle, looking to the ceiling now.

“Incredible,” Beca corrects.

“Incredi _beale_ ,” Chloe counters.

“Oh god, _no_ —”

Chloe laughs loudly again, and they’re both quickly putting their hands over Chloe’s mouth when Emily stirs where she sleeps on the floor.

“Shhh,” Beca noises, giggling. “You’re a fucking embarrassment, oh my god.”

“You shhh.”

“I wasn’t the one laughing!” Beca counters in a whisper.

“Just shhhh, Beca!” Chloe whispers at Beca.

They both lay their heads back down on the ground, letting out hushed giggles. Beca’s hands slip away from under Chloe’s and off of the other girl’s mouth.

“Unreal,” Beca repeats, eyes on the ceiling.

From the corner of her eyes, she can see Chloe staring and smiling at her. It’s so stupid. Beca doesn’t look away from the ceiling though and instead closes her eyes.

* * *

They all end up napping for a bit after Chloe and Beca fall quiet from their fit of giggles. Chloe wakes up first and shakes Beca awake, then Jesse before stirring Emily awake long enough to walk her to her bedroom. Chloe really is that good of a person, Beca thinks, as she watches the redhead lead a half-awake Emily to her room (“so she doesn’t hurt her back”). Jesse wipes the back of his hand against his mouth and mumbles “Uber?” at Beca, to which she nods to in reply. She excuses herself to go to the bathroom while Jesse orders their ride.

When their Uber arrives, Chloe bids them goodbye at the door. She hugs Jesse and Jesse hugs back even if he yawns and his eyes are droopy as they pull away. Then it’s Beca’s turn, or so she assumes, because she has this strong inclination that Chloe won’t let her leave without a hug.

“My turn?” She brings up cheekily.

“Mhm.” Chloe is smiling before stepping closer.

God, Beca hates hugs. Like she knows it’s going to happen but it still feels weird. She stiffens for the initial few seconds before relaxing into it. 

Chloe pulls away first much to Beca’s surprise but she doesn’t pull back too far, her hands still on Beca’s arms. 

“We’re gonna be fast friends you and me,” the ginger says, face incredibly close for anyone’s liking. (Or maybe just Beca’s.)

“Is that so?” Beca retorts, smirking. Because while Chloe does seem the most sober out of all of them what with waking all of them up and walking Emily to her bed, her eyes are kind of… drunk. Like they’re excited Chloe eyes but they’re also a little vacant like she can’t focus on one thing long enough.

“Mhm. Fast. I’d put a bet on it.”

“Well, we did finish that last bottle of wine together, so.” Beca winks.

Chloe giggles before moving back all the away, letting her hands fall away from Beca’s arms.

“I’ll see you around?” She says.

“Yeah,” Beca replies, her words genuine contrary to the beliefs she first had about Chloe when she arrived.

“Get home safe, you guys,” Chloe wishes, more of the both of them than just Beca.

Jesse nods though rather tiredly. Beca can tell he’s having a hard time keeping his eyes open. Wine always did make Jesse fall asleep.

“G’night, Chlo.” 

Beca half-heartedly salutes before putting her hands on Jesse’s back and walking him to the elevator.

Chloe stands outside the door and watches them until they get in, waving a final time before disappearing into Emily’s apartment again.

* * *

**@ThatGirlEmily:** Chloe Beale tucks you into bed AND cleans up after YOUR dinner party. Why is she the best? I don’t deserve her. #IWishChloeHadATwitter So I could SPAM HER with LOVE!!!  <3

Beca smirks. Chloe would. She likes the tweet before putting her phone down beside her. She’s on the living room floor making a mix. Behind her, Jesse lays on the couch scrolling on his phone. She’s been silently betting with herself when it’s going to fall on his face because it _should_. He keeps giggling above her when he reads funny tweets and it’s distracting her from mixing.

 **@JJ_Swanson** replies: Chloe doesn’t have a Twitter?!

 **@JJ_Swanson** replies: We need to fix this RIGHT now

Her phone noises beside her and she looks to see someone has mentioned her in a tweet. With a sigh, she disregards her work and swipes her phone to unlock it and read the mention.

 **@incredibeale** : Hi <3 @bmitchells

Beca takes her phone from the floor now. She taps this ‘incredibeale’ to be led to their Twitter page. Chloe has individually mentioned everyone she knows personally.

 **@incredibeale** : Luke!!! <3 @lukestanbraugh29

 **@incredibeale** : Hi <3 @bmitchells

 **@incredibeale** : Am I doing this right? _(thinking face emoji)_ @JJ_Swanson

 **@incredibeale** : I’m here now! You don’t have to miss me! :D @ThatGirlEmily

 **@incredibeale:** Hello Twitter world I guess!

An actual _dork._

 **@bmitchells:** for a second there i thought i was special but then you mentioned everybody  </3

 

A few moments later:

 **@incredibeale:** This is a special Beca Mitchell tweet just for Beca Mitchell and ONLY Beca Mitchell ;)

 **@bmitchells** replies: you’re supposed to mention me or this doesn’t work :\

 **@incredibeale** replies: @bmitchells Demanding

 

Beca’s phone buzzes again with another notification:

 **@incredibeale:** THIS is a special @bmitchells tweet just for @bmitchells and ONLY @bmitchells :P

Beca shakes her head but she likes the tweet before putting her phone down to continue her work.

* * *

So… Chloe is right. Chloe is right and Beca hates it. She almost tries to avoid Chloe on purpose at one point just to prove her wrong but it’s not helpful. They do become friends. And fast, too. Which only proves Chloe is right even further so Beca also hates _that_.

From Twitter mentions to texting in the small group chat that Jesse creates to actual hanging out together because of Jesse and Emily, she and Chloe do become friends. And they do become close. Arguably closer and faster than her and Emily. It’s probably because Beca has more of a mentor-mentee relationship with Emily. But with Chloe, it’s like… well, they’re dumbasses with each other. They make stupid jokes, laugh at each other, and jokingly flirt with each other because Chloe is a redhead with no boundaries and Beca is a sarcastic piece of shit who doesn’t back down.

It’s not super weird. Though, Stacie once gave Beca a weird look when she noticed that Beca actually plays along to Chloe’s flirtatious jokes. Beca didn’t do that with Stacie when they first met. Beca either blushed, grew flustered, or had her mouth hung open. It took a while before Beca actually shot back with a retort and that’s only after she and Stacie hooked up the _second_ time – not even the first.

(And yeah, Chloe has met Stacie. Stacie joined when they all went out for dinner once. It wasn’t weird. Beca had no idea why she was over-analyzing it so much before it happened but she did. Stacie and Chloe get along though. Like, freakishly well too. But then again, Chloe gets along freakishly well with everyone. Even Beca, apparently. Which isn’t a common occurrence for most people Beca meets.)

“Are you sleeping with her?” Stacie asks once when she and Beca have fallen behind some feet from where the group is walking around The Grove. 

It’s not accusatory, or anything bad like that. Stacie genuinely sounds like she’s just curious, or confused and wants clarification.

“What?” Beca scoffs. “No. Dude, what the fuck?” She shakes her head with a laugh.

“Like, you guys are _so_ close.”

Beca watches Luke and Emily chase Chloe around this fountain. “That’s an exaggeration.”

“I don’t know, you were never that way with me,” Stacie points out. She actually sounds a little bit offended (hurt?) this time around. And Beca knows what Stacie means by ‘that way’ when she says it. So, it’s not like Beca’s oblivious to how she plays around with Chloe. But that’s just it: she’s playing around. It’s a joke. And not at all serious.

“Hey,” Beca starts, stopping in her tracks and turning to face Stacie. Stacie stops too to look at Beca. And yeah, Beca’s wearing heeled boots but Stacie is _still_ taller so that blows. “It’s nothing, alright? It’s just… we’re being stupid.”

This is so weird. She doesn’t even know why she’s comforting Stacie. It’s not like they’re dating or anything. But it’s not common for Stacie to actually reveal when something bothers her. Very little does. So Beca feels like she should.

“Yeah, okay,” Stacie says.

And Beca doesn’t know what comes over her, but she stands up on her tiptoes and kisses Stacie. She feels her heart jump to her throat when Stacie actually returns it. Then Beca moves away before it could progress past a deep peck.

When she looks back to the fountain, she notices Chloe has stopped running and is looking at her – _them_. It allows for Luke to catch up to the ginger, grabbing her and tickling her sides. Beca watches as Chloe’s face goes from this blank unreadable expression to that of a happy one when Luke tickles her before she’s being thrown over his shoulder.

“Ahh! Luke!”

Beca doesn’t understand why the sound of Chloe being happy makes her feel… warm. 

Then she feels Stacie’s hand slip into the spaces of hers, and Beca looks at her with furrowed brows for a moment before Stacie just shrugs and Beca laughs, and they walk over to where the _children_ are playing by the fountain.

“Alright, nerds. Let's go home,” Beca says.

* * *

Chloe comes over to pick Emily up like usual, but she hangs out on the couch with Beca this time because Emily is still filming a video in Luke and Beca’s music room. They can hear the faint sound of Emily playing guitar and singing even from all the way on the couch.

“Whatcha listening to?” Chloe asks, plopping on the couch and tucking her feet under her legs. Her lower lip is caught beneath her teeth.

Beca tries to ignore that and looks up at Chloe’s eyes instead. She narrows her own at the redhead jokingly as if to decide if she’s worthy enough to wear her headphones before sliding it off of her ears and holding it out for the girl across from her to take.

Chloe wiggles excitedly before receiving the headphones from Beca, cupping it over her ears.

Beca watches closely as she listens. It’s a mix – hers. Just a quick remix of Clean Bandit’s Rather Be to have something to upload to her channel. 

Chloe is nodding softly as the song goes on. Beca can tell when the beats start to build up because Chloe smiles wider and her head-nodding gets more intense. She scrunches her nose when it hits the breakdown, her whole face lighting up in this really giddy way before she bites on her lower lip.

“This is so GOOD!”

Beca leans backwards.

“LOUD?”

She just nods.

Chloe takes the headphones off of her ears. “That was really good,” she says quietly now.

Beca laughs.

* * *

“Okay, so what’s this?”

Jesse is editing a video on the floor. Chloe sits beside him, learning all about a video program she’s probably never going to use. It's Jesse's passion: teaching people all about editing and film and _YouTube_. He's a big believer in creative content even if that content is just a 6 second video of someone vaping in a Darth Vader costume.

“I did it! I did it! It’s done!” Emily strides into the living room with her laptop in her hands. She flips it around once she has everyone’s attention. Her laptop screen reveals her album art for her song – the one Beca helped her finish. It’s taken like a month but they finally got it down to the way Emily envisioned it in her head.

“Wow!” Jesse actually claps.

They held a small photo shoot for Emily in the music room so she could have something to work with for an album cover.

“I love it!” Chloe exclaims.

“Not bad, Legacy,” Beca says.

“Aww, thanks, guys,” Emily gushes before scampering over and jumping to sit on the couch beside Beca.

“Legacy?” Luke asks as he returns to the living room with some god-awful blended green concoction in a glass.

“Oh, Emily’s mom was a Bella,” Chloe explains, which helps clear nothing up at all. “Like, if you’re a child of a Bella, you’re considered a Legacy. Well, sort of. You need to join the Bellas to be an _official_ Legacy, but Emily technically sings, so—“

“Honorary Legacy,” Beca adds to help support Chloe’s claim.

Chloe nods.

Emily does too. Because she’ll be damned if that title gets taken from her just because she didn’t attend Barden University and join The Bellas.

* * *

“Urgh!”

Beca rolls her eyes. She’s sitting on the far-end of the couch trying to do some homework but Jesse is being miserable… _loudly_.

“ _What?_ ” She asks, because he’ll keep grunting and flopping around noisily if she doesn’t.

“I need a video idea. I’m out. Like, depleted.”

Jesse snatches Chloe’s phone off of the coffee table and begins to go through it. Beca rolls her eyes again because Jesse has such a habit of getting comfortable with people. Then again, it _does_ feel like they’ve known Chloe for ages even if it's only been three months. And she does actually let Jesse swipe on Tinder for her for shits and gigs anyway.

“Swipe left, swipe left, swipe left—”

“You know, the reason you find all of them unattractive is because you’ve pretty much hit the jackpot with Luke.”

“I _know_ but _Chloe_ hasn’t found anyone yet. I’m sick of hearing about all these dumb DJ guys that fall asleep on her or pass out while they’re sexting. If DJs are her type, she’s better off dating _you_.”

Beca scoffs. “I’m not a _DJ_.” She chucks a throw pillow at Jesse which he expertly swats away.

“Hey. Wait.”

“What?”

“I have a video idea.”

Jesse is grinning and Beca raises a brow.

* * *

With the camera set up and the lighting positioned correctly, they sit themselves in the middle of the couch and use Jesse’s phone to download Tinder and start a new account.

“Ready?”

“Mhm,” Beca sounds, watching the Tinder app load up.

Luke presses the ‘record’ button for them on the camera when Jesse throws up an okay-sign, afterwards walking away while sipping on his tea. _So British_ , Beca thinks.

“Hi, I’m Jesse.”

“Beca.”

“You know who we are,” they say at the same time.

It’s what they always do when they film videos together on Jesse’s channel.

“And if you don’t—” Jesse brings his left hand up and points upwards.

On the video, it’ll link his channel trailer for the year on the top right corner of the screen. It briefly goes over everyone Jesse hangs out with on a daily basis. Even Chloe and Emily make it on there in a flash of a clip but aren’t mentioned by name. Beca recalls the ‘who’s the hot redhead?’ comment when she was reading the comments of Jesse’s video after he released it for the New Year. It still makes her laugh because Chloe was in there for like .2 seconds. 

Beca remembers they’re filming a video and focuses her attention.

“And today, we’re going to find our friend Chloe a boyfriend on Tinder.” 

Beca grins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is what [beca’s remix of clean bandit's rather be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4obHo_zYpgQ) sounds like.


End file.
